Undercurrents

The Hidden Wiring of Modern Music

By: The Wire

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Paperback | 7 November 2002 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
288 Pages

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23.2 x 15.2 x 2.0

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For the last twenty years The Wire has fearlessly bypassed fashion in it's search to expose the most innovative, radical, and compelling music from every genre all across the world. As listeners have grown increasingly eclectic and adventurous in their tastes, The Wire has emerged as the most authoritative source on modern music.

In Undercurrents some of the best music writers of our time uncover the hidden wiring of the past century's most influential music. Ian Penman discusses how the microphone transformed the human voice and made phantom presences of great singers such as Billie Holiday, Robert Johnson, and Brian Wilson. Christoph Cox demonstrates how the pioneers of live electronic music, the West Coast ensemble Sonic Arts Union, redefined virtuosity for the electronic age. Philip Smith and Peter Shapiro examine Harry Smith's Smithsonian Anthology of American Folk Music, which led to a massive reappraisal of musical values that went far beyond the folk music revival.

>Music explored in Undercurrents ranges through avant rock, jazz, hiphop, electronica, global music, and contemporary "classical."

Industry Reviews

'Rammed full with historical details....Great for those who want to delve deeper into why today's music sounds like it does.' Straight No Chaser

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Philosophy Arts & Entertainment Music Music Styles & Genres Society & Culture Cultural Studies Popular Culture

Acknowledgements	p. 1
Introduction: The Hidden Wiring	p. 3
Recording Angels: The Esoteric Origins of the Phonograph	p. 15
On the Mic: How Amplification Changed the Voice for Good	p. 25
The Jerrybuilt Future: The Sonic Arts Union, Once Group and Mev's Live Electronics	p. 35
Worship the Glitch: Digital Music, Electronic Disturbance	p. 45
The Eternal Drone: Good Vibrations, Ancient to Future	p. 59
Slapping Pythagoras: The Battle for the Music of the Spheres	p. 71
The Ragged Trousered Anthologist: The Secret Worlds of Harry Smith	p. 81
The Solar Myth Approach: The Live Space Ritual: Sun Ra, Stockhausen, P-Funk, Hawkwind	p. 99
Humans, are they Really Necessary?: Sound Art, Automata and Musical Sculpture	p. 117
Automating the Beat: The Robotics of Rhythm	p. 131
The Autobahn Goes on Forever: Kings of the Road: The Motorik Pulse of Kraftwerk and Neu!	p. 141
Rock Concrete: Counterculture Plugs in to the Academy	p. 153
Deck Wreckers: The Turntable as Instrument	p. 163
Destroy All Music: The Futurists' Art of Noises	p. 181
The Limits of Language: Textual Apocalypse: Merz, Lettrism, Sound Poetry	p. 193
The Music of Chance: Musical Dice Men from John Cage to John Zorn	p. 209
Smiling Faces Sometimes: Soul Music's Grinners Versus the Backstabbers	p. 223
Frames of Freedom: Improvisation, Otherness and the Limits of Spontaneity	p. 233
Generation Ecstasy: New York's Free Jazz Continuum	p. 249
Bibliography/Discography	p. 265
Contributors	p. 273
Index	p. 275
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

Undercurrents

The Hidden Wiring of Modern Music

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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